Islamic State has Euro 2016 in its sights, German spy chief says

Islamic State militants have the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in their sights though there is no concrete evidence at the moment of an attack being planned, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency has said.

The comments from Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, come after France's spy chief said Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants are gearing up for a campaign of bomb attacks on large crowds in France.

"We know that IS has the European Championship in its sights," Maassen told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

Nike logo on France footballCredit:
Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg

He said that while there was no hard evidence of an attack being planned, there was "quite a lot of background noise, an elevated number of indications" that IS, al Qaeda or its Syrian affiliate Nusra Front wanted to perpetrate attacks against Western targets.

About 2.5 million spectators are expected for 51 soccer matches involving 24 teams at Euro 2016. There will also be "fan zones" for crowds watching games on big screens in major cities.